Same name, same job, same interests for two of a kind in Lewiston

By Stevie Stewart

April 19, 2007 | LEWISTON -- Two men with the same name, same career and same hobbies also live in the same small Utah town and say they wouldn't have it any other way.

Kimbur Hyer and Kimber Hall each own one of Lewiston's two tiny gas stations. A mile apart on Lewiston's long, desolate Main Street, the gas stations are not all that the owners have in common.

Hyer, a lifelong Lewiston resident, says he and Hall have too much in common not to be good friends. Hyer said his wife, Joan, and Hall's wife, Minnie, are best friends. Their children grew up together, went to school together and played together. Hyer and Hall love athletics and have volunteered as Little League coaches for their children.

"I don't know anyone I would rather share so much with," Hyer said. "Everyone likes Kimber [Hall]."

Many would think that in a small, rural town with few businesses, men such as Hyer and Hall would be contentious. Both men say this has never been the case.

Hall said at first he worried that two gas stations were too many for a place like Lewiston. Even though there are few buildings between their businesses, Hall said there are plenty of fields and crops between the gas stations, leaving lots of farmers to buy gas from both men.

"It is a long ways to walk from my store to his," said Hall. "There are also lots of little kids that find one closer than the other, so we both sell lots of pop and penny candy too."

Hall said he and Hyer both spent most of their youth in Lewiston, so having families with the same hobbies and each own gas stations is not all that ironic.

Hall said what he finds more interesting than the stores and their family similarities are their first names.

"I have never met another man with my name," said Hall. "It is strange that he is right here in Lewiston."

While many say the men are just alike, their wives and children, who know both men would disagree.

Joan and Minnie say one of their husbands is funnier than the other and one is more athletic than the other, though they wouldn't reveal which was which.

Both women agreed that they don't know two men more well-liked than their husbands. They say everyone knows they can come to one of the "Kimbers" if they need help with anything.

"Things and names may get confusing from time-to-time," said Joan Hyer. "But we are used to it. Our families and customers get a kick out of it and it gives us Lewiston folk something to talk about."

MS
MS